How frequent are earthquakes in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi)?

Q: How frequent are earthquakes in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi)?

The area where this quake occurred has a high level of seismic activity. Based on data from the past 54 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 53 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi). It has had at least 2 quakes above magnitude 6 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 60 to 65 years.

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Event status: highly uncertain [?]

Reported quake or seismic-like event: Near Mexico, Ciudad De México, Mexico, Wednesday, Nov 15, 2023, at 02:50 pm (Mexico City time) -

A possible earthquake might have occurred near Mexico, Mexico D.F.,

Mexico, in the early afternoon of Wednesday, Nov 15, 2023 at around 2.50 pm local time (America/Mexico City GMT -6). Details of the quake (if it is one) are so far unkown until confirmed by a seismic agency, but the event was reported felt. We will update the status of the event on this page as soon as more information becomes available.

Reported quake or seismic-like event: Near Mexico, Ciudad De México, Mexico, Wednesday, Nov 15, 2023, at 02:50 pm (Mexico City time)

15 Nov 20:56 UTC: First to report: VolcanoDiscovery after 5 minutes.

Earthquake details

Date & time	Nov 15, 2023 20:50:47 UTC -
Local time at epicenter	Wednesday, Nov 15, 2023, at 02:50 pm (America/Mexico City GMT -6)
Status	highly uncertain
Magnitude	unknown (3.8?)
Depth	20 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude	19.2871°N / 99.1126°W Xochimilco, Mexico D.F., Mexico
Seismic antipode	19.2871°S / 80.8874°E
Shaking intensity	III Weak shaking near epicenter
Felt	1 report
Primary data source	VolcanoDiscovery (User-reported shaking)
Nearest volcano	Chichinautzin (28 km / 17 mi)
Weather at epicenter at time of quake	Clear Sky 22.7°C (73 F), humidity: 31%, wind: 3 m/s (5 kts) from NNE
Estimated seismic energy released	3.2 x 10¹⁰ joules (8.78 megawatt hours, equivalent to 7.56 tons of TNT) \| about seismic energy

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Most recent quakes Top 20 past 24 hrs Quakes in Mexico

Nearby places

The closest larger town where the quake might have been felt is Mexico, the capital of

Mexico with 12,000,000 inhabitants, in 15.8 km (10 mi) distance north of the epicenter. People likely experienced weak shaking there. Many smaller towns and villages are located closer to the epicenter and might have experienced stronger shaking.
The following table shows some of the places that might have been affected (or not) by the shaking.

Distance	Place	Max. shaking intensity(*)	Region	Country
4 km (2 mi) S of epicenter	Xochimilco (pop: 407,900)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
5 km (3 mi) W of epicenter	Tlalpan (pop: 574,600)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
8 km (5 mi) NW of epicenter	Coyoacan (pop: 620,400)	III: Weak	Coyoacan, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
9 km (6 mi) NE of epicenter	Iztapalapa (pop: 1,815,800)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
10 km (6 mi) S of epicenter	San Miguel Topilejo (pop: 34,600)	III: Weak	Tlalpan, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
11 km (7 mi) E of epicenter	Tlahuac (pop: 305,100)	III: Weak	Tlahuac, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
11 km (7 mi) NW of epicenter	Magdalena Contreras (pop: 238,400)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
12 km (7 mi) S of epicenter	San Pablo Oztotepec (pop: 15,500)	III: Weak	Milpa Alta, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
12 km (8 mi) N of epicenter	Iztacalco (pop: 384,300)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
13 km (8 mi) N of epicenter	Benito Juarez (pop: 355,000)	III: Weak	Benito Juarez, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
13 km (8 mi) SE of epicenter	San Juan Ixtayopan (pop: 24,100)	III: Weak	Tlahuac, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
14 km (9 mi) SE of epicenter	Milpa Alta (pop: 18,300)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
15 km (9 mi) SE of epicenter	San Antonio Tecomitl (pop: 24,400)	III: Weak	Milpa Alta, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
16 km (10 mi) NE of epicenter	Emiliano Zapata (pop: 25,300)	III: Weak	La Paz, Mexico	Mexico
16 km (10 mi) N of epicenter	Mexico (pop: 12,294,200)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
16 km (10 mi) NE of epicenter	Ciudad Nezahualcoyotl (pop: 1,104,600)	III: Weak	Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico	Mexico
17 km (10 mi) NE of epicenter	Los Reyes Acaquilpan (pop: 85,400)	III: Weak	La Paz, Mexico	Mexico
17 km (11 mi) E of epicenter	San Miguel Xico (pop: 356,400)	III: Weak	Valle de Chalco Solidaridad, Mexico	Mexico
18 km (11 mi) N of epicenter	Cuauhtémoc (pop: 531,800)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
18 km (11 mi) E of epicenter	San Isidro (pop: 33,700)	III: Weak	La Paz, Mexico	Mexico
19 km (12 mi) NW of epicenter	Miguel Hidalgo (pop: 372,900)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
19 km (12 mi) NW of epicenter	Col. Bosques de las Lomas (pop: 15,000)	III: Weak	Cuajimalpa de Morelos, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
21 km (13 mi) NW of epicenter	Delegacion Cuajimalpa de Morelos (pop: 160,500)	III: Weak	Cuajimalpa de Morelos, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
23 km (14 mi) NE of epicenter	Santa Maria Chimalhuacan (pop: 612,400)	III: Weak	Chimalhuacan, Mexico	Mexico
23 km (14 mi) E of epicenter	Chalco (pop: 168,700)	III: Weak	Mexico	Mexico
23 km (14 mi) N of epicenter	Gustavo Adolfo Madero (pop: 1,185,800)	III: Weak	Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico D.F.	Mexico
24 km (15 mi) N of epicenter	Azcapotzalco (pop: 414,700)	III: Weak	Mexico D.F.	Mexico
24 km (15 mi) E of epicenter	Ixtapaluca (pop: 322,300)	III: Weak	Mexico	Mexico
25 km (16 mi) NW of epicenter	Naucalpan de Juarez (pop: 792,200)	III: Weak	Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexico	Mexico
26 km (16 mi) W of epicenter	Huixquilucan (pop: 124,800)	III: Weak	Mexico	Mexico
26 km (16 mi) NE of epicenter	Chicoloapan (pop: 172,900)	III: Weak	Mexico	Mexico
29 km (18 mi) N of epicenter	Tlalnepantla de Comonfort (pop: 653,400)	III: Weak	Tlalnepantla de Bas, Mexico	Mexico
34 km (21 mi) NW of epicenter	Ciudad Lopez Mateos (pop: 489,200)	III: Weak	Atizapan de Zaragoza, Mexico	Mexico
35 km (22 mi) NE of epicenter	Texcoco (pop: 105,200)	III: Weak	Mexico	Mexico
36 km (22 mi) N of epicenter	San Cristobal (pop: 1,655,000)	III: Weak	Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico	Mexico
36 km (23 mi) N of epicenter	Buenavista (pop: 206,100)	III: Weak	Tultitlan, Mexico	Mexico
38 km (24 mi) N of epicenter	Coacalco (pop: 278,000)	III: Weak	Mexico	Mexico
41 km (25 mi) NE of epicenter	Tepexpan (pop: 102,700)	III: Weak	Acolman de Nezahualcoyotl, Mexico	Mexico
41 km (26 mi) N of epicenter	San Francisco Tepoiaco (pop: 484,600)	II: Very weak	Cuautitlan Izcalli, Mexico	Mexico

Notes:
(*) Shaking intensity according to the Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) and estimated using seismic models.

User-reports for this possible quake (1)

The first report about ground shaking reached us after only 5 minutes. We received 1 report for this unconfirmed quake.

User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.

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Mexico City / Weak shaking (MMI III) : My car shaked

What is Intensity and the Mercalli Intensity Scale?

The amount of shaking that occurs on the surface due to an earthquake is called the intensity. It is commonly measured on the so-called Modified Mercalli Intensity Scale (MMI) ranging from 1 (not felt) to 10 (extreme shaking), and given in Roman numerals as I,II,...IX, X, and often displayed with color codes ranging from light blue to dark red.
Earthquake intensity depends mainly on the magnitude and depth of the quake as well as the distance from the epicenter: The further away, the less shaking intensity occurs.
Read more about the MMI scale!

Compare Quake Data

Data for the same earthquake as reported by different agencies

The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.

Mag	Depth	Time GMT 2023-11-15	Epicenter	Agency
3.8	20 km 12 mi	20:50:47	Near Mexico, Ciudad De México, Mexico	VolcanoDiscovery (User-reported shaking)

Seismograms

Seismic station: Unam - Mexico, Mexico (UNM/G network) | Distance from quake: 8 km / 5 mi | Show on map | Station Info

Seismic station Unam - Mexico, Mexico: vertical movement plot around time of quake (source: IRIS/BUD)

Seismogram (vertical component) around time of quake. Thin dotted red line indicates time of quake. Seismic waves arrive some time later, depending on distance. Bandpass filter applied: 0.5-10.0 Hz. Source: IRIS Buffer of Uniform Data (BUD) webtool

Earthquake statistics

Average number of earthquakes

Based on data from the past 54 years and our earthquake archive back to 1900, there are about 53 quakes on average per year in the area near the epicenter of this quake (within 100 km/61 mi):

Mag. 6 or higher: 0.02 quakes per year (or 1 quake every 62.5 years)
Mag. 5 or higher: 0.02 quakes per year (or 1 quake every 62.5 years)
Mag. 4 or higher: 0.33 quakes per year (or 1 quake every 3.1 years)
Mag. 3 or higher: 25.8 quakes per year
Mag. 2 or higher: 39.3 quakes per year (or 3.3 quakes per month)
Mag. 1 or higher: 53 quakes per year (or 4.4 quakes per month)

The area where this quake occurred has a high level of seismic activity. It has had at least 2 quakes above magnitude 6 since 1900, which suggests that larger earthquakes of this size occur infrequently, probably on average approximately every 60 to 65 years.

Number of quakes per year

Previous quakes in the same area of this earthquake

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